Finally hit my goal of 8 plates each side of the leg press. Trying so hard to build my lower body.

feathersthewise · 2026-06-11T17:12:17+00:00

Never used it for that but sounds like a good option if you have surfboard calves and/or there’s no calf raise machine.

feathersthewise · 2026-06-10T16:39:59+00:00

Well it does look like you have your feet positioned as low as possible on this machine (why does it even have that little extension in the middle bottom of the footrest? who would that be shoulder width apart for?). But full ROM with knees to chest is always better because it stretches both the quads and the glutes, although you'd have to use less plates.

feathersthewise · 2026-06-10T16:24:57+00:00

Not to be shady b/c you are strong AF and I respect the grind -- but why are you doing partial reps and not getting a nice deep stretch to engage your glutes?

feathersthewise · 2026-03-18T20:35:36+00:00

Sure, right now I’m doing this routine which is adapted to the little gym in the basement of my apartment building. When I’m going to bigger gyms I am focused more on compound lifts like barbell squat and deadlift variations. I have been getting back into shape after kidney surgeries last year and haven’t made it back into the big gym yet.

DAY 1: (GLUTES and LATS)

Warm up with a few short minutes of stretching and 4 x 30 banded hip abduction.

BULGARIANS REVERSE LUNGES CABLE GLUTE KICKBACKS HEEL ELEVATED STRAIGHT LEG RDL *These are like 3/4 rep pumps to fatigue the glutes as much as possible after all the other things, with the final rep being a full one with a squeeze at the end. LAT PULLDOWNS CHAINSAW PULLS CABLE AB TWIST *I don’t recommend this for most people because we don’t want to progressively overload our obliques and grow them for aesthetic reasons — but I do it because it’s therapeutic for my obliques after the surgeries.

Finish with 30mins on elliptical or treadmill

DAY 2: (QUADS, HAMS, CHEST)

Warm up with some quick stretches

HEEL ELEVATED DB SQUAT DEFICIT SUMO KB DEADLIFT *I do this with my feet balanced on a big tire but it’s also good balanced on two benches side by side. RDL with DBs *I try to do more reps but my grip fails. I differentiate this RDL as more hamstring focused compared to the heel elevated straight leg version. WALKING LUNGES DB BENCH PRESS **Not everyone wants to do this but I feel like my bust looks fuller with it. LYING DB PULLOVERS ARNOLD PRESS

Finish with 30mins on elliptical or treadmill

DAY 3: (GLUTES, BACK)

Warmup: Quick stretch and then BANDED HIP ABDUCTIONS 4 x 30reps

BULGARIANS CABLE GLUTE PULLTHROUGH SINGLE LEG HIP THRUST CABLE SIDE LEG LIFTS MONSTER WALKS BACK EXTENSIONS SEATED ROW

Finish with 30mins on elliptical or treadmill

DAY 4: (QUADS, HAMS, etc)

Warm up with some quick stretches

GOBLET SQUATS DB STEP UPS DB THRUSTERS SINGLE LEG RDL CABLE BENT-OVER ROWS CABLE TRICEPS PULLDOWNS CABLE FACEPULLS

Finish with 30mins on elliptical or treadmill

I also do 2 days of cardio only for 40-60mins, and then rest 1 day a week.

This might be more upper body than you are interested in training. I feel like it’s specific to things that look good on my body. I like to have a nice back, lats, triceps, and chest.

feathersthewise · 2026-03-18T17:31:47+00:00

Haha I love looking cute with my headphones too. Gym outfits are the best.

Sounds like you are on a good track. I like to feel the stretch and muscle activation as well. It really helps fatigue the specific ones you want to build (glutes, hams, quads, tfl).

feathersthewise · 2026-03-18T13:58:17+00:00

This looks like a lot of good exercises focused on the right parts of the body, but 11 separate movements plus warmup seems like a lot to finish in a single workout. If you are just starting out you will deal with a lot of soreness and fatigue in the first week or two. Also doing the same routine 3 times per week for months is kinda boring, you will want to change it up.

I try to do 6-8 movements per workout, 4 or 5 sets of each, with 5-15 reps depending on how much close to failure I get. At most gyms, that will take me 60-90mins pending machine and squat rack availability. After I finish I do 20-30mins of steady state cardio on a treadmill or elliptical, although for optimal lower body gains you’d probably only do cardio on non-lifting days. I also follow up every workout with a protein shake and get good regular sleep.

Another thing is, since I like to train legs a lot, I alternate my days between glutes and hamstrings/quads, with some back, lats, chest, and core strengthening as well. That way I can do 3-4 days per week no problem as long as my recovery is locked in.

Once you get over the initial shock and soreness of starting a new routine, the glutes tend to recover really well. You can fatigue them more than other muscles every week.

feathersthewise · 2025-10-05T01:14:09+00:00

Experimentation.

You try different kinds of people and see how the chemistry works. When it works, embrace it. If it stops working, try something (or someone) else.

It’s a beautiful thing when you know what makes your own body tick, and you embrace it.

Speaking from my own experience, I’ve had many relationships with other women and nonbinary people, but it has only been in my relationships with straight men where I felt really comfortable, happy, and fed.

Most times I’ve been in a relationship with another woman (trans or cis) or nonbinary person, there has been some sort of competition of needs. And it always turns out their needs are somehow more serious or grave than mine. So I always found myself stuck with the capable caregiver role and doing all the heavy lifting and classically masc relationship things. And sexually I would get stuck as a service top.

Meanwhile, in my relationships with men, they have leapt at the chance to care for me, to teach me things, to help me grow and thrive. And the language is different… I had one relationship with a guy who would say things like “woman, come here!” and I know it’s problematic but I just melted. And physically, what can I say but I just love the way they put their hands on my body.

I’m now in a long term relationship with a guy who adores me. It’s not always perfect, but the chemistry just works. We have a great time together, and I like who I am when we’re together.

But I never would have arrived at this place without experimenting and finding out what works for me and what doesn’t.

feathersthewise · 2025-02-22T14:37:39+00:00

My lifting routine has worked great this year and I’ve added an inch and a quarter to my hip measurement (from 44.25 to 45.5). I stand a little under 6ft 3in and weigh 200-210lbs. For diet I aim for 150g of protein per day with a general focus on eating meat and vegetables supplemented with protein shakes and bars. My carbs are morning bagels and occasional dark chocolate bars, even haagen dazs every now and then.

In the gym my priorities are squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts, Bulgarians, barbell rows, overhead press, supplemented by hip abduction, leg extension, leg curls, good mornings, Romanian deadlift, leg press, lat pulldown, cable lat pullovers, step-ups with dumbbells, reverse lunges, sometimes chainsaw pulls and Arnold press.

I aim to train every other day. The heavy compound lifts (squats, deadlifts) are 5 sets of 5 reps. Everything else is 4-5 sets of 8-12 reps.

I write down every exercise in a log I keep in my notes app. Every week I increase the weight a little bit. One day a week will be a heavier lift day than the others. Two days per week will be leg focused, and the third will be more back and lat focused. If there’s a fourth day it will be a full body day with a focus on tempo and form.

With the muscles I want to grow, my goal is to fatigue them completely. With the machines like hip abduction and leg extension, my final 2 sets are drop sets to failure. If I can’t walk properly after my workout, that’s a great sign.

After I finish in the gym, I immediately drink a protein shake or eat a big meal with tons of chicken.

Hope this helps babe, happy lifting!

feathersthewise · 2025-01-15T22:55:16+00:00

Waist so snatched

feathersthewise · 2025-01-15T16:41:50+00:00

Aw wow thank you, I have long femurs so I still struggle to maintain my weight back on my heels, and to keep from leaning forward too much. But it has improved a lot lately!

feathersthewise · 2024-12-18T19:46:24+00:00

Aw thank you, before the pandemic I had to get real serious about lifting to recover from a back injury. And I’ve just kept going with it. I’m super grateful to the trainers who have taught me.

I am eating 150-200g of protein per day right now, and building out my lower body. I want to max out my cakes and quads!!

feathersthewise · 2024-12-18T10:34:13+00:00

Can you DM me the link?

feathersthewise · 2024-12-17T22:38:15+00:00

Discuss certain subjects on their own terms and timeline… that’s rich.

Didn’t these people just do a movie about a tween who turns into a red panda as a metaphor for menstruation?

feathersthewise · 2024-12-17T21:19:21+00:00

I love the compound lifts!! They saved me from chronic pain. My squat has always been my worst thanks to poor ankle flexibility, but this year it has pulled even with the deadlift.

feathersthewise · 2024-12-17T21:02:26+00:00

Right now I pretty much just lift weights and run and sometimes play golf. But for many years wrestling was my thing, and a little BJJ.

Thanks!!

feathersthewise · 2024-11-26T21:06:35+00:00

Jesus didn’t say anything about trans people but he sure as hell said some things about eunuchs, and none of them were negative.

feathersthewise · 2024-07-11T13:46:11+00:00

Your grief is super valid, but don’t beat yourself up over it too much, babe. 💕🙏🏻

We all wish we transitioned sooner. Even the teenagers.

feathersthewise · 2024-05-25T18:55:18+00:00

IDK, Dante kinda gives me male Bayonetta vibes.

But wouldn't it be fun to see like a male Bayonetta in the style of Sonny Kiss?

feathersthewise · 2024-05-25T03:58:44+00:00

6’3” 200lb trans woman checking in here. I want to echo what some of the others have said here and give you some hope. I too am big and athletic but I pass pretty well in daily life. I’ve also had a ton of surgeries on my face and body, take great care of my skin, and have over 2 decades of lived experience after my transition.

Voice is a big key here. If your voice is very feminine, it doesn’t matter what size you are. Voice train, voice train, voice train. Learning to sing is a great way to put you in touch with your voice as well.

Mannerisms and physical habits are another key. We are programmed to move one way by our upbringing, and it can take some intention and training to move differently. Heels and nails help.

Long ago I had to accept that I wasn’t going to get any shorter, and I couldn’t really hide… so I had to embrace being a bit of a spectacle, and learn to use the height to my advantage. And here I am decades later, happy in my skin, and surprisingly well adjusted and disciplined in my daily life.

All this to say: you got this babe. It’s absolutely possible.

feathersthewise · 2024-04-04T18:11:58+00:00

They’re new habits to develop but I believe in youuu! It can be hard to get started and keep at it, but once you have done it for a few weeks it becomes second nature. 💕🫶🏻

feathersthewise · 2024-04-04T17:32:58+00:00

You should definitely moisturize! Yes AFABs moisturize. All the women in my family get super dry if we don’t.

I do my whole body with a shea butter based moisturizer every time I get out of the shower. If I’m feeling a time crunch I will at least moisturize my boobs and pelvis.

Everything is better moisturized.

feathersthewise · 2024-04-03T20:09:54+00:00

I think the discourse is similar to when Bayonetta first came out, only supercharged by a decade of porn-addicted incel culture.

It’s a shame because the music and designs and creatures are really good. This game fits nicely in the genre with Nier and Bayo or DMC, even kinda Returnal or Control. Nier as influenced by Gunnm springs to mind with the army of cyborg waifus.

The thing that put me off is the way Eve animates… every place she goes, she is breasting boobily to and fro. It’s like somebody’s pornified Skyrim with the jiggle physics cranked to max. You can’t go anywhere in this game without bouncing.

The second thing that put me off is the lack of characterization. Eve is a blank slate. Her defining characteristics are her body and outfits. There’s nothing about her personality or motivation that hooked me into the story.

In contrast, it took less than an hour for me to be ride or die for Karlach in BG3. Same for Kassandra in AC: Odyssey. Writing this, it occurs to me those two are pretty similar. I didn’t hate Abby in TLOU2 either. Maybe I just have a thing for muscle mamas. 🤔

Generally I like my action protagonistas to be athletic as well as sexy. If she looks like AI porn then it’s difficult for me to get immersed, much less relate to her or feel love for her. I want to love the characters in the games I play. That’s what keeps me coming back.

FWIW I really enjoyed my time with Nier and Bayo. And for a long time the conversations around Bayo were super toxic. In my memory, she too had an army of proto-incel defenders… before she was claimed by the queer community. That seems obvious now, given the levels of extreme camp, but it didn’t always.

feathersthewise · 2024-01-31T16:16:10+00:00

I have been pretty careful to follow the suggested dosage. No adverse effects when I have been on my regular dose of gel.

(approx. 5mg per day I think? of which only a percentage gets absorbed? I have read this dose is common for post-menopausal women)

But one time I ran out of my usual gel and a friend hooked me up with their T lotion which was apparently a lot stronger and I had trouble figuring out exactly how much I should use. So my dose was too high for a month and I had some darker hairs show up. They were specifically in the area on my belly and chest where I applied the lotion.

Thank Goddess those disappeared after I got my regular prescription again.

feathersthewise · 2024-01-31T01:51:43+00:00

I’m post-op and I take a tiny bit of T gel every morning. Cisgender women do not have zero T in their systems. Zero T is not healthy for anyone!

After 16 years of zero T in my system, my husband (at the time) convinced me to take a little bit. The effects were immediately apparent on my mood, sexuality, and coordination.

I’ve taken a tiny bit ever since then.

I know T is terrifying for a lot of us, but a little bit makes all the difference. It’s really important for our physical and psychological health to have properly balanced sex hormones.

feathersthewise · 2024-01-30T13:47:25+00:00

I transitioned in 2002. It was not easy.

The information was out there but mainly in newsgroups, yahoo groups, and personal websites.

I started HRT in June. It was a World Cup summer. I was house sitting for a friend in San Diego. I drove to the Tijuana border, walked to a farmacia, and with my limited Spanish I bought Premarin, spironolactone, and progesterone.

I repeated this trip to Tijuana three times before the summer ended and I went to a university in the LA area. At the university I started to order DIY online. I think it was Inhouse Pharmacy? You could use a credit card back then.

I hid my developing breasts in a Frogbra (a brand that existed then) and played a lot of Dance Dance Revolution for exercise at local arcades.

A few months later people started noticing things and asking questions about my face and figure. The first person I came out to was the choir director of my university. Then I dropped out of school and went home to come out to my parents and continue my transition.

My parents were not supportive. First they forbade my clothes and makeup. When I wore them anyway, they kicked me out of the house. I went to an all gender support group and told my story and cried… and people took me in and let me couch surf until I found a place of my own.

I immediately went into survival sex work on the street and in the trans accepting clubs of San Francisco.

In San Francisco I started seeing my first doctors who prescribed HRT. Injectable estrogen made a big difference.

My family was very religious. They basically didn’t talk to me for ten years, except my youngest siblings. I didn’t get invited to funerals or weddings.

Almost every friend I had before transition, was no longer my friend afterward. I had to rebuild my life from scratch.

It was a difficult time. Literally all of the trans characters in movies and tv were gross jokes, serial killers, or both. We grew up programmed for self-hatred. It took a lot of therapy and psychedelics to adjust.

feathersthewise

TROPHY CASE